Schiit Vidar vs NC502MP

Same, which is a little bit of ABV discrimination, but mostly me being cheeky.

VTV seems to have a 30 day trial, I could give it a shot and see if it's worth loaner funds.

 

In that case, get an Ncore and a Purifi one as well and do a shootout ;-)

 

The Data Sheet says the ‘Current Limit Per Channel’ is 27Amps.

https://vtvamplifier.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/NC500MP_02xx.pdf

 

Max power consumption of 650 W, 2 ohms current limited to a peak of 400W == it delivers 27 amps? What kind of sorcery is this?!

 

I'd be interested to try a loaner Pascal based amp and compare to my Purifi 1ET7040SA from Buckeye Amps. I have not been aware of the Pascal Class D implementation. I chose Purifi because I like what Bruno Putzeys is doing and I've read some of his white papers and watched some tech talks. He seems to be a grey beard of this discipline. I like the idea of supporting his technology implementations because he seems to be openly pushing the boundaries and researching what's possible/required with this technology. AFAIK, Bruno used to work with/for Hypex but I can't help but wonder if Hypex and others are just reinventing the wheel whereas Bruno seems to be trying to continue to expand the knowledge base and research into this field.

Or it's all marketing. Nevertheless my position still stands.

 

I didn't realize VTV had a Pascal board amp for so cheap! Ordered; should be here in a few days.

 

I think this is the danger (or genius) of open and outspoken designers. They share enough opinions and ideas that they build a personal brand that you can find plenty to latch onto and idolize. The more they say, the more you could potentially agree with. And so people seem to follow the philosophies instead of the sound.

You say Bruno, "seems to be trying to continue to expand the knowledge base and research into this field." But are you so sure others aren't also trying to do the same, possibly in other more fruitful directions like with much higher switching speed Gallium Nitride transistors?

I was sucked into the gravitational pull of 'Papa' Nelson Pass after reading a lot of his writings and watching so many interviews. I resonated with his ideas and tried a handful of his amps before friends (and listening to other systems) helped get me out of that MOSFET mist and finally sell my last Pass piece.

Are you building a bias academically/conceptually or through actual first-hand experience?

 

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It'll be far fewer amps at the wall, as those will be at the higher 120 V supply level. For a 650 W max power rating it's about 5.4 at 120 V.

 

No, you didn’t. Because the power doesn’t come out of the wall at 28V, but at 230V or 110V. It’s the power that matters, in this case 400 W at 76% efficiency, which is 526 W required power. I = P / U = 526 W / 110 V = 4.8 A

EDIT: Ok, @Psalmanazar was quicker, and I was wrong, too, as I didn’t know it’s 120 V in the US nowadays.

 

I doubt you will like the Pascals.
It is still a class D amp.
It sounds good in comparison with other Class D amps.
- Good "plankton" for a class D amp. ( Not as refined as the best of class AB/A)
- Less " blunted" sounding than Crown, Hypex, Icepower ect.
- Small, and runs very cool ( I have 4 of these 4 channels amps and I sit very close to them)
- Plenty of power for the size and cost.

 

I was being sarcastic about his "objective data points" and his inability to read the datasheet from the beginning, the 27A is clearly a catastrophic failure... that is a certain kind of oompf I guess.

 

I bought the Purifi 1ET7040SA so I guess I am building first hand experience based upon the intrigue fueled by the information I read. I also bought the Schiit Gjallarhorn. Schiit told me Class D was basically the devil, and the folks at Purifi have written very long documents and talked a lot to try to convince me they are not. Both presented additional useful data to make their case. Neither are bad. My primary goal was to not pull 300W from the wall to only listen at 65dB with my giant A/B amp.

For the Gallium Nitride stuff, I have not had enough intrigue to try it for myself and have not pursued understanding any of its merits (technical or marketing babble). One step at a time as I'm not in a position to buy 10 different things and try them all at once.

 

I recently bought the Aiyima T9 for the hell of it and with some hope it could be used in my thermally limited scenario (it passes on that front, but the other usability issues about it don't) but while I wouldn't go as far as say it sounded good, it was passable. I'm kinda hoping this at least gets in that direction.

The main draw of GaN is the lower on resistance as well as lower Miller capacitance relative to silicon, especially with high rail voltages, which makes it switch faster with less beefy driver stages. We have a fellow SBAFer who bought one of the GaN based amps and worked with the designer to improve the design enough to sell his class A Luxman...

 

No sorcery involved here, the class D modules are capable of handling 25amps. It depends on the application and the power supply. In a PA system for example 15-20 amps can be designed with a very large power supply. Of course distortion and noise will rise at that level.

For hifi audio, smaller power supplies give ultra clean amplification with smaller high quality power supplies.

March audio sells Purifi amps with specs that spell out 25amps. Check it out and try to keep an open mind.

https://marchaudio.com/product/p262-stereo-power-amplifier/?v=7516fd43adaa

 

The Sumo Andromeda 3 did 200A peaks in 1992. Class AB differential MOSFET out with error correction.

Vidar 2 does about 50A on the same kind of (short pulse-based tests into very low impedance loads).

Tyr does about 250A. Not surprising since it has 24 15A-rated parts per channel and a giant choke backing it up.

Products with current limiting built into the output stage will perform poorly in this kind of test. Products with external protection (like Andromeda 3's rail fuses and the microprocessor oversight of Vidar 2 and Tyr) will do much better.

You can get eye-popping numbers on a 1mS pulse, but really, it's a kinda meaningless test. Much more important to look where it goes into protection, how protection is implemented, continuous power capability...and, above all, sound. It's entirely possible Vidar 2 works in one system, Class D works in another.

 

Schiit should consider offering a Class D amp, a Purifi Eigentakt or Hypex Nilai, for example. The future of amplification is Class D IMHO. The current level of Class D technology is far better than the Class D of just a couple of years ago. Class D is more efficient/ environmentally friendly, light weight, compact, powerful, extremely clean with SINAD in the 120db range. Another advantage is that Class D can drive extremely low impedance speakers down to 1 ohm.

just a thought.